Page 37 of Wild Card
“Surely that's my choice to make,” Taint’s looking really pissed.
“It is, but that woman is venomous. You don’t want her in your life.”
“Maybe not, but if that kid she’s having is mine, I don’t got much choice. Hell, Cass, could you not have just stayed out of it?” He scrubs his hand over his face and starts pacing the floor.
“No, Taint, I couldn’t. I love all you boys like family, and nobody fucks with my family,” she tells him. “Now, am I cleaning up a stiff down there or patching up an invalid?” she asks, moving on from the subject.
“Wraith and Grizz are fixing it. I came up to pull a cage round back. Ain’t nothing left of him to patch up, but the basement's gonna need a clean.” He looks as if her words have got him thinking.
“Sooner we get another prospect, the fuckin’ better.” She picks up her cleaning caddy and heads through the door down to the basement, and Taint moves on outside.
“Poor bastard.” I shake my head as I watch him go out.
“And that is why you never commit to one female.” Hack raises his eyebrows at me.
“You heard from your brother since he was exiled?” I ask.
“Not a word, and he didn’t just cut a run because of the heat he had from the club; he wants nothin’ to do with that kid.” I can see the guy’s hurt to admit it.
“How can you be so sure?” I check.
“Cause if he did, he would have taken Harriet with him; she sure as hell wanted him to. If he gave any kinda shit, he sure as hell wouldn’t have left her here to deal with this alone.” Hack keeps his head down as he heads into one of the side rooms and closes the door, leaving me alone with the table of judgmental whores.
“You look bored, Wild Card,” One of them calls out, and I quickly follow Taint outside. I’d rather help get rid of the fuckin’ stiff.
“So what did he tell ya?” I ask, kicking Randall's body, so it rolls into the hole we just dug for him. The man doesn’t look anything like I imagined him to be; he’s just a scrawny piece of shit that looks like he’s taken more drugs than he’s sold. I can’t imagine he’s the mastermind behind the town's drug problem.
“Nothing. Menace and Zander turned his place upside down. Found plenty of stash, but he wasn’t gonna talk.”
“They always talk.” I shake my head in disbelief.
“You doubtin’ my abilities?” Taint drops the shovel from his hand and steps up to me.
“Yo, chill. I ain’t doubtin’ nothin,’ I’m just saying that when death gets laid on the table people's loyalties usually change.”
Taint shakes his head and eventually backs down, scrubbing his hand over his face before resting on one of the fallen tree trunks.
“You wanna talk about it?” I ask. It ain’t in my nature to get into other people's troubles, but it kinda feels like the right thing to do. It’s just me, him, and the dead man out here, and Taint doesn’t know me as well as he does all the others. Maybe that’ll make it easier for him to get shit off his chest.
“I guess you already heard what happened, huh?” He digs the heels of his boot into the ground.
“I heard what Cass thinks about it all, but not what you do.” I move to take a seat beside him, not entirely sure what's going on in my head, but I think I might be feeling some kinda empathy for this guy.
“I loved her.” Taint shrugs. “I loved her with my whole heart, and it wasn't enough.” He sniffs back angrily. “You don’t wanna listen to my fuckin’ problems, Wild Card, let's fill this fucker’s grave and get outta here.” He goes to stand up, but I force him back down.
“Speak,” I tell him, pulling out my smokes and offering him one.
“She could have pulled that shit with anyone…but my best friend?” He shakes his head. “You know that son of a bitch was the first person I told.” There's spite in the laugh he makes. “She said I had to keep the pregnancy a secret for the first… whatever it is… but there was no way in hell I was keeping somethin’ like that from him. He was my best fuckin’ friend. I can’t even get into tellin’ you what we’ve been through together, and he stood beside me, while I married her, knowing that kid she has growing inside her could be his. And d’ya know what the shit thing is about all this, Wild Card?
“I miss ‘em. I’d give anythin’ to have a beer with my best friend again. To be present at all those damn fuckin’ appointments with my wife. What the fuck does that say about me as a man?” He digs his heel in the ground a little deeper.
“That you’re a forgivin’ one,” I tell him, drawing back on my cigarette and having no other answers for him.
“I’m a fool, is what I am. I can accept getting screwed over by her, but Loche? That bastard was my brother. I’ve taken bullets for him.”
“So what ya gonna do?” I question him.
“If the kid is mine, I’ll step up. What else can I do?”
